A Historical Narrative

The Wynne Home: A Cultural Legacy
by Gary Zellar
Prepared for the City of Huntsville Cultural Services

The Wynne Home, sitting gracefully atop a crested location at 1428 Eleventh Street in Huntsville, has commanded the attention of people passing to and from Huntsville's downtown area for more than one hundred years. Described by architectural historian Dan Utley as Huntsville's "most successful historically layered house", it is indeed fitting that the Wynne Home will serve as a Cultural Arts Center for the community. But it is not just the carefully rendered Classical Revival architecture of the house itself that has contributed to Huntsville's cultural and historical legacy. Perhaps more important are the contributions that generations of the Wynne family have made to that legacy, not the least of which is Mrs. Samuella Palmer and Mrs. Ruth Hollinshead's generous donation of the Wynne Home to the city of Huntsville for use as a Cultural Arts Center.^[i] According to Wynne family oral history, the Wynne home had its origins as a honeymoon cottage, a wedding gift from Sandford Gibbs and his wife Sallie, to their niece, Samuella Gibbs Wynne and her husband, Gustavus Adair Wynne. The marriage is significant not only because it brought two people together who were uncommonly suited for one another, or because it was an important event in charting the beginnings of the Wynne home, but also because the union brought together prominent families involved in the early history and development of Huntsville and Walker County.^[ii]

John Magruder Wynne was also involved in developing Huntsville and Walker County's commercial potential. In 1872 the Gibbs brothers, along with Magruder Wynne and other merchants interested in developing Huntsville, succeeded in getting a railway line built to Huntsville, which at the time was a key to any successful economic development. For many years Wynne had managed a successful plantation operation west of Huntsville in the rich bottom lands along the West Fork of the San Jacinto River. After the rail line was built, Wynne established a wholesale cotton business, the Wynne Cotton Wharf in 1872, the first such enterprise in Walker County. Taking advantage of being tied in to the railway infrastructure, Wynne became one of the leading wholesale cotton agents in the area, drawing business from surrounding counties as well. As Wynne's cotton business grew, so did the need to offer his clients credit and other financial services, as was typical for most cotton merchants during the time. Because there were few banks operating outside of the major cities in the South, farmers and planters alike looked to local merchants for credit to carry them from planting season to harvest. In 1873, in partnership with his brother-in-law Sam Y. Smith, Wynne opened a private banking operation in conjunction with his cotton business to serve the further needs of his clients. The Wynne-Smith banking business was reportedly the earliest of its kind in Huntsville and was established at a time when commercial banking services of any type were rare in Texas or, indeed, in the South as a whole. It was here at his father's business that Adair Wynne received his first training in accounting and banking, which would become his life's work.^[v]

Meanwhile, Sandford Gibbs was in a similar situation with his clientele at the Gibbs Brothers store. Like Magruder Wynne and other merchants throughout the cotton South, Gibbs regularly extended credit and other financial services to his customers. In September 1879 he formed a private banking operation of his own in conjunction with the store. The next month Gibbs hired Adair Wynne, who was only twenty at the time, to oversee the newly founded banking operation and keep the books for the store.^[vi]

It is likely that Adair Wynne first became acquainted with his bride-to-be, Samuella Gibbs, while managing the Gibbs private bank. It is also likely that the couple met frequently at the First Methodist Church, in which both the Wynne and Gibbs families were active and had played key roles in helping to establish in the years before the Civil War. By the 1880s, with the aid of such prominent and successful families as the Gibbses and Wynnes, the First Methodist Church had grown to be the largest and most influential congregation in Huntsville, and it was there that Gustavus Adair Wynne and Samuella Gibbs were married in November 1883. ^[vii]

 

Anticipating Samuella's marriage, Sandford Gibbs made arrangements to present the new couple with a wedding gift. In September 1882 Sandford paid M. C. and Amanda Taliferro $1,000 for their homestead property located three blocks west of the courthouse square beside the road leading to Bryan that would later become Eleventh Street. According to Walker County deed and tax records, the property originally included lots 532 , 533 and part of lot 529 located in city block 64. Gibbs deeded the property, except for a portion of lot 529, to Samuella the next month (October 1882), and the newlywed couple moved to the property following their marriage in November 1883. The value of the Taliferro property before it was sold to Sandford Gibbs ($900) and the deed description (the Taliferros sold their "homestead" with all "improvements") indicate that there was already a house on the property, but whether or not this structure served as the original core structure for the Wynne home cannot be determined with the available evidence.^[viii]

The Wynne family oral history tradition indicates that the home began as a "honeymoon cottage" of modest proportions and grew with rooms being added and a second story being built at some point as the family increased and Adair Wynne prospered in the banking business. The family history accords with the only documentary evidence at hand: tax records which indicate an evolutionary growth in the value of the house keyed to pivotal events in the family's history. Adair and Samuella's first daughter, Mae, was born in 1884, and apparently the house provided adequate space for the young family. The first increase in the value of the property did not take place until 1889, when its value jumped $400, indicating that some improvements were made in the house. Perhaps the Wynnes were making room for their second child, Gibbs Adair, who was born in January 1890. ^[ix]

Gibbs Adair's birth also coincided with the establishment of the first chartered national bank in Huntsville, the Gibbs National Bank, a major development in the economic life of the community that was engineered largely through the efforts of Adair Wynne. Wynne suggested to Mrs. Sallie Gibbs, whose husband Sandford Gibbs had died in 1886, that the time was ripe for such a change, because "there was considerable agitation over the question of a national bank for Huntsville..." at the time. Originally, the switch from a private banking operation conducted within the framework of the Gibbs Brothers store to a chartered bank wholly independent of the assets or liabilities of the store was to be signaled by simply naming the new bank "First National Bank of Huntsville". But after further thought, it was decided to honor the recently deceased Sandford Gibbs by naming the new enterprise "Gibbs National Bank". Adair Wynne was the bank's first cashier, was a member of the first Board of Directors, and served as an officer of the bank and finally as Chairman of the Board for the rest of his life.^[x]

Closely following the birth of Gibbs Adair and the establishment of Gibbs National Bank, another daughter, Sallie, was born to the Wynnes in 1891. At that time, according to tax records, there was a further increase in the property value, from $1,000 to $1,500; perhaps another addition had been made to the house to accommodate the new addition to the Wynne family. In 1897 yet another $500 rise in the property's taxable value indicated further improvements that brought the Wynne home to its appearance circa.1899 in the earliest photograph yet found of the home.^[xi]

 

In the picture may be seen a fully realized two-story Queen Anne Victorian home with typical features that made the style popular in Texas and the nation during the last two decades of the nineteenth century. The home has a steeply pitched roof with irregularity in the roof-lines that is typically seen in most Queen Anne houses. The second story porch, the ground floor wrap-around veranda, the spindlework decoration on the porches and the decorative wrought-iron work on the roof also display typical Queen Anne features which are further brought out by the arched facade front-porch entryway. Though there is no direct evidence that Adair Wynne used any mail-order building plans or materials that were becoming increasingly popular and readily available during this period, the home design is similar in many ways to those found in catalogs published by George Pallisers or Robert Shoppell, or even more specifically to George Barber's Design 2 in his Cottage Souvenir No. 2 collection of plans. Palliser advertized his house plans in the local newspaper, The Huntsville Item, during the 1880s, and the plans included designs from which one could build either a two-story "cottage" from the ground up, or transform a two- room shot-gun house into an expensive home. In any case, the Wynne home photographed in 1899 was a stylish Queen Anne house and was already considered one of the architectural landmarks in the town befitting the Wynne family's station in the community.^[xii]

 

While the Wynne home and family were growing, Adair Wynne's banking career also prospered. During the early and mid-1890s, at a time when the United States was suffering from a major economic depression, the bank's deposits increased and the business was so successful that, well into the next century, the bank regularly paid dividends that averaged eight percent or more. While the bank's prosperity cannot be attributed totally to Adair Wynne (indeed, he would be the first one to tout the role of others), a promotional piece that appeared in the Item a year after the bank's opening observed: "the mere mention of his name" (i.e., G.A. Wynne) in connection with the new bank is a guarantee of its solidity. The bank's sound reputation even found its way into national notoriety when The Financier of New York, one of the leading financial and banking journals of the day, regularly ranked the Gibbs National Bank in the upper tier on its "National Bank Honor Rolls". While Adair Wynne served as cashier, and indeed throughout his fifty-year career with the bank, the institution was identified with promoting the healthy economic growth of the area....[and known for its] ... concern for the economic welfare of Walker County's citizens. One illustration of that concern can be found in the bank officers' reaction to the Panic of 1907. Not only did they extend special financial support to Sam Houston State Normal School and the State Penitentiary, the two leading employers in the area, but they provided increased credit or gave extended loans to local farmers on liberal terms so they could hold their cotton off the market until crop prices improved.^[xiii]

In addition to his role as a leading figure in the Huntsville business community, Adair Wynne was also active in the civic life of the community. He served on the Huntsville City School District Board of Trustees and was elected to several terms as City Treasurer. He was involved in the Masonic Lodge and actively supported the First Methodist Church and was at the center of organizing many charitable activities in the community over the years.^[xiv]

Ever the gracious hostess, Samuella Gibbs Wynne opened the Wynne home to friends and family on many occasions, particularly after the children reached adolescence and young adulthood. Mae and Sallie Wynne, with the help of their mother, of course, hosted many get- togethers for Huntsville's young people. Ranging from a party organized for the high school girls basketball team to coordinating a meeting of the "Entre Nous Club", a literary and social club, the Wynne home was regularly the scene of social events in the community. Mae Wynne even hosted an early morning outing of horseback-riding in late January 1906, and according to an article in the Huntsville Item, a good time was had by all:

The morning could not have been a more perfect one if it had been made to order ... and never was a jollier merrier and more enjoyable three hours spent in Huntsville. Mrs. Wynne assisted her daughter in receiving the guests with such a smiling, cordial welcome that the frost of an early morning was completely forgotten, and pleasure unmarred is the only word to express the feeling with which the equestrians cantered so merrily along. Fortunately no accidents occurred, and after enjoying several hours riding the crowd gathered again at the Wynne home where a most sumptuous collation was served ... a bountiful supply of peanuts and deviled ham sandwiches, olives, crackers, luscious chocolate, coffee and fruit was at the disposal of the guests to which they did ample justice.^[xv]

By 1910 Adair Wynne and his family, securely nestled in their stylish, two-story Queen Anne Victorian home, were playing a leading role in Huntsville's economic, social and cultural development. Another photograph taken circa 1910 shows the Wynne home in its Queen Anne incarnation. Property-tax records indicate that improvements were made in 1911 and 1913, increasing the property value in $500 increments to $3,000. At this point the house probably remained in the Queen Anne style, but by 1916-1917 several developments indicate that Adair Wynne undertook a major renovation campaign that completely transformed the home into the Classical Revival style seen today, rendering the Wynne home into "Huntsville's most successful historically layered house." ^[xvi]

 

During the years 1916-1917 the property tax rolls show an increase in the value of the Wynne property of $1,500, raising the overall value to $4,500. This leap in value is in accord with the Wynne family oral history that the last major renovation of the house took place at this time. It was during this period, while World War I raged in Europe and before the United States entered the war, that a major economic boom was surging in the United States, particularly in the agricultural sectors, as cotton prices soared to more than twenty cents a pound. Buoyed by war-time prosperity, the Wynnes would have had more disposable income on hand with which to begin a major reconstruction program. It was also a time in the family's history when the elder Wynnes would have had the house all to themselves. All three of the children had married and moved to other homes with their spouses, or had gone on to establish careers. Mae Wynne married Ike Barton McFarland in 1914, and the couple moved to Houston. Although Mae Wynne McFarland lived in Houston, she made frequent trips to Huntsville and retained a life-long interest in the developments and history of her native town. Gibbs A. Wynne moved to Houston in 1911 when he took a job with the First National Bank of Houston, following in his father's footsteps in the banking business. He married Lela Mae Brown in 1916 and, although the couple remained in Houston until 1919, they later returned to take up residence in Huntsville. It was also during this time that Sallie Wynne married W. A. Reynaud and moved to Houston. So, with resources available and an empty nest, the Wynnes began the process of transforming their Queen Anne Victorian home into a Classical Revival style mansion.^[xvii]

 

By 1916 the Queen Anne style had largely fallen out of favor with American home owners. The Classical Revival style, which first became prominent in the architecture of American public buildings in the 1890s, was a simpler, less elaborate, yet-- at the same time-- grander style. When adapted to domestic architecture, in the South in particular, the style brought to mind the plantation homes of the Old South. Using features that typified the Classical Revival style, Adair Wynne had a double-story classical portico built that completely enclosed the east and south sides of the house and a portion of the west face as well, which increased the size of the home by as much as twenty-five percent. Paired composite cypress columns and smaller Doric columns supported the grand portico, which along with an elaborate entryway, were the dominant features of the newly designed house. The Queen Anne design features were removed from the exterior of the house and the roof line irregularities were successfully masked by the imposing symmetry of the Classical portico, making the transformation of the Wynne home complete except for remaining Victorian interior design features such as intricately carved balusters decorating the front stairwell, a crowned cove ceiling in the dining room and an oblong stained-glass window seated above the room's west windows. Except for repairs and maintenance and the installation of indoor plumbing in 1926 and air conditioning in the 1970s, after the alterations made in 1916-1917, no major stylistic changes were made in the home.^[xviii]

The trend toward building in the Classical Revival style during the time that Adair Wynne redesigned his house can also be seen in several other homes that still exist in Huntsville. One dramatic example is the S. D. Johnson home at 2715 Lake Road. The "Top O ' the Hill", as it is called, was built about 1911 and exhibits many of the features used in the Wynne home. A two-story porch and facade supported by Doric columns give the Johnson home its Classical Revival appearance, which is dramatized by surrounding open fields comprising many acres. Another example of an earlier home being transformed into a Classical Revival structure can be seen at the Thomason-Eastham-Thomason house at 906 Avenue M (The Whistler Bed and Breakfast). The Thomason-Eastham home was redesigned about 1912 in the Classical Revival style when a two-story portico with Doric columns was added, masking the earlier Greek Revival features incorporated into the house when it was first built about 1859.^[xix]

 

In its Classical Revival incarnation the Wynne home continued to be one of the outstanding architectural landmarks in Huntsville. Following the transformation of the house, the Wynne family continued its contributions to Huntsville's legacy. Following in his father's footsteps, Gibbs Adair Wynne, his wife Lela, and their daughter Samuella, moved back to Huntsville in 1919 when he was made cashier at the Gibbs National Bank. Adair Wynne had left the position to become Chairman of the Board and Vice President. The young family moved into the recently expanded home and another daughter, Mary Ruth, was born in 1920. Samuella Gibbs Wynne, Adair's devoted wife, died in 1921. Adair Wynne continued to share the house with Gibbs Adair, his wife Lela, and his granddaughters until his death in 1940. ^[xx]

 

During this time Adair, who was supposed to have officially "retired" from the bank in 1928, devoted himself to his granddaughters, who called him "Old Daddy", an affectionate nickname that evolved into "O' Daddy" after Adair let it be known that he was not old. Friends and acquaintances even adopted the altered nickname, and before long whenever the name "O' Daddy" came up in conversation, nearly everyone in the community understood to whom it referred. Adair also enjoyed gardening and hunting and fishing. Some of the larger pecan trees still producing abundant crops of nuts on the property were grafted by Adair Wynne himself as he had always enjoyed tree and plant husbandry as a hobby. A snippet from the Item, which could either be read as a Texas brag or a testament to Adair Wynne's gardening skills, mentioned "three truly fine radishes" Wynne brought them, one being thirteen inches in circumference, while the other two were a measly twelve and half, with all three weighing in at two and one-half pounds. Interest in the outdoors led him and his son to organize the Heath Branch Fishing Club (later known as Club Lake) west of Huntsville so that he and his friends could enjoy the quiet of the country and indulge themselves in hunting, fishing and horseback riding. Adair Wynne also remained active in civic and church affairs after his retirement. While he was officially retired from the bank that he helped found and which he helped guide for thirty-eight years, he was never far from his old office, even during his retirement.^[xxi] At his passing hundreds came to mourn the death of "Huntsville's Leading Citizen" (as the Huntsville Item characterized him) under the roof of the Wynne home itself. The Item featured a tribute to Adair Wynne on its editorial page that had this to say about his contribution to Huntsville's legacy:

As the roster is called of those who composed the leadership of Huntsville in those glorious decades of Texas history, many names of men and women outstanding in the making of the little city are brought to the memory of its living citizens. Among these names none is worthy of higher regard than that of G. A. Wynne.^[xxii]

After the death of his father, Gibbs A. Wynne continued to serve as an officer at the bank and succeeded his father on the Board of Directors. He was also involved in civic affairs in Huntsville and served on the Board of Stewards at the First Methodist Church for many years. Known for his devotion to his family, he was also an avid horseman and was as one of the first judges at the Texas Prison Rodeo. In declining health for many years, G. A. Wynne retired as a bank officer in 1945 and from his seat on the Board at First National Bank in 1956. He died in 1959, leaving behind his wife, Lela; his two daughters, Samuella and Ruth; two sisters, Mae Wynne McFarland and Sallie A. Reynaud; a grandson and a niece. ^[xxiii]

Mae Wynne McFarland also made a major contribution to the cultural and historic legacy of Huntsville and Walker County. Although she did not live in the Wynne home after her marriage to Ike B. McFarland, her lifelong interest in the history of Huntsville and Walker County, and in genealogy and historic preservation, naturally drew her back to her historical city of birth on many occasions. Indeed, much of what is known about the history of early Huntsville and Walker County is primarily due to her efforts in collecting and cataloging information from old newspapers, documents found in both the Texas and National Archives and from interviews she conducted with local residents. She also accumulated and cataloged information on other Texas history topics. Mrs. McFarland was also the driving force behind organizing Huntsville chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas and was active in other patriotic/genealogical organizations around the state as well. An early advocate of highway beautification, she lobbied the Texas Legislature to adopt laws protecting wild flowers growing beside highways and roads and to have historical markers placed there at significant sites. Mrs. McFarland died in 1962 and was buried in the Wynne family plot in the historic Oakwood Cemetery in Huntsville.^[xxiv]

 

After the passing of her mother-in-law in 1921, Lela Mae Wynne served as the gracious hostess and matron for the Wynne home for another sixty-five years. A devoted mother to her two daughters, she particularly enjoyed hosting children's parties. Her daughter, Mrs. Samuella Palmer, recalls a Halloween party once held in the house attic (a regular play place for the girls during cool weather) that featured peeled grapes as eyeballs and other ghoulish treats. On another occasion the Wynnes treated children to a special "moonlight" party during a summer full moon, activities reminiscent of those enjoyed by the previous generation of children at the Wynne home. Mrs. Wynne also regularly hosted bridge parties and other social/civic events for adults of the community. As a lover of both art and music and an accomplished pianist, Mrs. Wynne imbued in her daughters a life-long appreciation of the arts. Indeed, her daughter Samuella began a successful career as a commercial artist soon after leaving home, and both daughters supported the local arts and were familiar faces at art shows and exhibits over the years. Lela Mae Brown Wynne died in 1984, leaving the home to her two daughters, Mrs. Samuella Palmer and Mrs. Ruth Hollinshead. The daughters lived in the home for some years after their mother's death, and shortly before Ruth Hollinshead passed away in 1998, the Wynne sisters decided to donate the home to the City of Huntsville for use as a Cultural Arts Center.^[xxv]

The donation of the Wynne Home is the capstone to nearly one hundred and fifty years of the Wynne family's contributions to Huntsville's cultural legacy. The home itself has stood for nearly one hundred years as a significant architectural landmark and a place where the Wynne family welcomed fellow members of the community to share their hospitality as well as their appreciation of the arts and Huntsville's history. The Wynne Home has undergone many transformations, from a simple "honeymoon cottage" to a stylish two-story Queen Anne family home to a "mansion" rendered in the Classical Revival style. While the imposing Classical Revival style will be retained, now it is the purpose of the structure that will be transformed. The family home will become a resource center for the community to study and preserve the cultural arts and history, a lasting tribute to the Wynne family and the community that it helped shape.